Diablo 3: The Demons hunt
by Thee Ark
Summary: The Demons hunt is the tale of Celes, and her story as she journeys through the events that happen within Diablo 3, starting with a short background about Celes and what started her on this adventure. If you would like to watch the video play through that the story is based on you can watch it on my youtube channel here /user/TheeArkcard?feature mhee
1. Chapter 1

Celes felt the demons vile touch, like tendrils of corruption the demons influence crawled along the barriers of her mind. She had tracked it down to its layer deep within the woods of Harvendown. Now as she stood within the entrance of its lair she could sense its frustration, unable to overcome her physically it was now assaulting her mentally with a fury of a cornered beast. At each turn it had tested the barriers of her mind, and now it assaulted them in earnest.  
The mental battled seemed like hours, but in truth no more than a few minutes had passed in the world. Her mental barriers were weakening, and as the demon felt her barriers breaking its assault only grew in intensity. Suddenly her barriers gave out, and the demon hungrily poured itself into her mind ready to find all of her doubts, sin, pleasures and… nothing. There was nothing. Celes' mind was a complete void, until suddenly it burned with a fury of pure hatred. As Celes poured all of her hatred for the demon and its kind she tempered it with a discipline obtained only by the most learned of Demon Hunters, forging her hatred into burning chains that wrapped about the Demons, mental form.

_Show me… Everything!_Her mind's eye burned brighter as she directed her hatred like a spear directly into the mind of the demon, ripping all the memories from it, before shattering the demons very being.

After returning to the Order Celes had locked herself within her sanctum. She had learned, costly as the lesson was that demon memories are just as dangerous as those who thought them. Celes did not trust anything she uncovered within them, but the demons main area of focus gave Celes enough of a lead to track down further demon activity and halt it.  
The Order was impressed with her results at stopping demon activity, but even so she knew that would never approve of the method. As far as the Order was concerned once a demon had gotten inside your mind you was lost.  
Celes was different; she had no emotions, but the hatred for demons. She wanted for nothing, but to hunt demons, and while her hatred threatened to consume her while she was younger, her discipline now rivalled the masters of the Order.

_You shouldn't be doing that you know, one day you will find a demon that is too much, even for you._

'Shut up.'

_Oh ho! Talking to me today then? Well this is a pleasant surprised, but still best to keep this conversation inside this pretty little mind of yours, some frown upon this kind of thing you know._

The Order did not create very social members, but with Celes' inability to feel emotions she had become somewhat of an outcast, and with her ability to trap demon minds she had further distanced herself with others of her kind. 'The Voice' as she had named it had spoken to her since she had awoken in the apothecary, the first thing it had done was warn her that she must not tell anyone about it, she had learned the truth of this the hard way, asking one of the members about voices in your head had made them fear that she was. The Order had tested her, but found nothing.  
She had never brought it up again, and while she tried often to avoid talking to The Voice, the need to talk to someone, or something sometimes bypassed her better judgement.

_Oh now __you're__ just going t__o ignore me huh? Well fine! But you're gonna need a friend soon… real __soon…__  
_

_What do you mean?_

_Bye~_


	2. Chapter 2

Celes had pondered the parting words of the voice since she had left for Dreadwood Village. Now standing in its centre she knew she was right to have been concerned. The village lay deserted, food lay rotting upon the tables, doors stood ajar and pieces of equipment had been left randomly around the streets, like something had called the villagers and they had dropped everything to answer it.

Most disturbing was the silence. Celes had been taught by her master that sound was caused by vibrations within the air, and through training she could sense movement around her by learning to "feel" the sounds, but in Dreadwood silence reigned.

The taint of demons lay in the foreground, Celes could sense Hellspawn, but somehow it was dampened, as if the demons where close, and yet somehow hidden from her. Her hatred for the demons started to rise, waiting for her to focus it on her prey.

Sound shattered the silence within the village, the sound like a bolder shattering assaulted Celes' senses. She turned toward the sound as the demon presence she had been sensing burst forth from the ground, as the earth parted. The shattering sound repeated itself around her as more rends within the earth opened up, surrounding her.

Without warning mental images flashed through her mind. A star falling from the sky, shattering the earth as demon horde rose from the cracks and raged across the land, as the world burned. The mental attack ceased as quickly as it had begun.

Regaining her senses Celes quickly checker her surroundings. The Hellspawn had spewed forth from the cracks in the earth, trapping her within the centre of the village. Their howls filled the air as they charged her.

Celes closed her eyes, allowing for her hatred of the demons to fill her mind, using her discipline to focus her hatred sensing each demon that came forth. She breathed out; a dark calm fell over her as she prepared for the battle. Her senses sharpened and her perception of time slowed.

Years of training with her master had taught Celes to use her hatred and discipline to sense demons around her, and combined with her ability to sense the vibrations in the air allowed Celes to enter a trance like state that her master told her was called the "Dance of Demons". Like a dancer she flipped and twirled around the demons, avoiding every assault they made upon her, as she unleashed her full arsenal upon the horde.

With each demon that fell before her, her hatred focused on the remaining, until only one remained within the village. Within her mind the last demon burned with the full force of her hatred for it, as she danced toward it, her crossbows sang as her bolts rained down upon the demon. The bolts shattered on the demons hardened carapace shell, without hesitating Celes threw Bola bombs that wrapped around the demons arms, obliterating the demons shell. Vaulting over the shattered beast she dropped grenades upon it, the detonation consumed all traces of the demon.

The village lay in ruins; demons body littered with bolts or blown apart covered the area. It was only as her hatred calmed she noticed that the demons for what they were. The villagers had been possessed and twisted into the horde that had attacked her. Her hatred started to boil, her hands shook as they sought an outlet.

_Easy…_

The Voice snapped her back to her senses, as she regained her discipline. She turned from the decaying bodies, and prepared to leave.

Suddenly the sky lit up; like night turned to day within an instant a pale light filled the village. Celes looked to the sky; her view filled with the falling star that streaked across the heavens. She followed its passing until it disappeared behind the tree line. Moments later the earth trembled beneath her feet, she was forced to crouch low to keep her balance waiting for the earth to be still once more.

Finally the earth stopped. The Voice chuckled as she headed toward the star.


	3. Chapter 3

Celes walked wearily across the dilapidated bridge that lead to New Tristram, the wooden boards had warped and split since it was built, and moss had found its way between the gaps. It was a wonder that it had not already collapsed under its own weight, and she feared the wood may give under hers.

Curiously the past had started once more to stir in Celes' mind, she once more relived the destruction of her family and how experiencing such a thing had left her a hollow wreck, beaten and empty, until the order found her. Survives like her, they saw in her the potential help rid the world of the evils that would do these things, and they forged her into a weapon. No longer hunted, now she is the hunter.

Brought out if her memories by the reek of death upon the air she quickly checked her surroundings. A trail of smoke left in the wake of the fallen stars passing told her that she was close to her quarry. The town of New Tristram lay below her.

Following the road, it did not take her long to encounter the dead. A man and a woman lay dead next to an over turned wagon, their bodies already pale and bloated. Defiling their corpses was an abomination, a creature, once human, had risen once more and was feasting on their bodies. Celes quickly dispatched the undead creature, but she knew that this was only the beginning, and she would not stop until the dead once more took up their rightful place, under the ground.

She continued to follow the road to New Tristram, encountering more of the risen dead, as well as what she assumed were dead towns folk, that the risen feasted on. Whether the dead town's folk had attracted the undead or the undead had killed the towns folk Celes could not determine, she only hoped another disaster had not befallen the town.

In the distance the sound of battle rang upon the wind, Celes quickened her pace and found herself at the gates of New Tristram. Three guards stood before the gate while two more archers had position themselves upon the walls, on either side of the gate. The ground was littered with corpses, town's folk and undead alike, some still twitched after the skirmish she had just missed. The very ground had been stained with their blood. The path ahead had been barricaded with a wagon, and pieces of anything the town's folk could find to wedge into the gaps. Celes could see the defenders had given and lost much in the defence of their town. She approached the guard who stood in the centre; his armour told her he was in charge of the defence.

'I have journeyed her to find the fallen star,' she told him. 'And purge its evil from this land.'

'It fell on the old cathedral.' He told her. 'There was only one survivor – Leah. You should speak with her.'

Celes could see in his eyes what had once been in hers. Here was a man who had seen too much, too many horrors. Any petty notions of any human, being greater then another had been swept from his mind, all were the same to him. She knew he must have seen too many ripped apart and left in the same mess to now think otherwise.

'Captain Rumford,' the guard called, with horror in his voice. 'More dead are coming!'

The Captain turned to watch the undead rise once more.

'We can't open the gates until we drive them back!' He commanded.

The defenders jumped into action, arrows sang through the air as they hit their marks, but Celes could see the defenders had grown tired in their defence of the town, the power of their shots was not what it should be. She quickly unleashed a volley of arrows upon the dead, the arrows pierced their bodies and changed course to find new targets.

The order taught her how to channel her hatred for demons, and evil, into her very weapons, and fuelled with her hatred, her arrows would seek out her prey, just as she would, without mercy, without remorse, her vengeance would find all evils and purge them from this world.

'They keep coming!' Captain Rumford shouted.

However soon the flow of undead ended as quickly as it had begun, Celes could feel the eyes of the defenders upon her as they stared; mouths open at the furiosity of her fighting.

'I've never seen anyone fight like that before!' Captain Rumford exclaimed. He stared at Celes, until her reason for coming here snapped him back to his senses. 'Guards, open the gates! You will find Leah at the Slaughtered Calf Inn.'

Quickly pardoning herself from the Captain, Celes made her way into the town, she could sense, feel even the smog of hopelessness that had covered the town. The people moved without purpose, their eyes glazed. She watched as they burned the dead so that they could no longer rise up. The bodies of dead guardsmen lay close by, waiting for their brothers to put them to the flame.

'Zakarum has fallen to disgrace,' a priest shouted for all to hear. 'What faith can save us now? It is the end of the world, can't you see that?'

Celes met the priest's eyes as she passed him, he stared back, caught by her pale orbs, until he hung his head and silence took him.

Soon after she found her way into the centre of town, the Slaughter Calf Inn stood before her. People loitered around the area, but she took little notice of them as she walked through the doors of the Inn.

The floorboards of the Inn creaked under Celes' feet. The women who stood around turned fearful faces upon her, a stranger to them. To her left, Celes saw injured towns folk sprawled on the floor, those who could stand stood, huddled together, shaking, many had grievous wounds. At the back of the bar lay the barkeep, and by him the only person in the room, other than Celes herself, who did not reek of fear. Celes crossed the room to speak to her.

'Leah is it?' She asked the girl. The girl nodded. 'Rumford said that you survived the fallen star's impact.'

'I did. But it blasted my uncle, Deckard Cain, into the depths of the old cathedral. I tried to search for him, but the dead were already rising.'

Leah looked to the floor. Celes could see the loss of her uncle lay heavy on her shoulders.

'I came back here to rally the militia,' she continued. 'But –' Her eyes widened in fear, as she pointed behind Celes. 'Watch out, the wounded are turning!'

Celes turned, the sight of this foul evil that had taken hold of New Tristram turning even the wounded into the undead filled her hatred once more, and within the blink of an eye she laid the turned villagers to rest.

'This is killing business.' The barkeep moaned.

Celes turned to face him; he glimpsed the look of disgust on her face and quickly busied himself with cleaning more glasses.

'The dead will overwhelm us all unless something is done.' Leah said. Defeat was slowing creeping into her voice

'Then I will put an end to them and secure your town.' Celes told her.

A spark of hope glimmered in Leah's eyes.

'Thank you,' she said. 'You should speak with Captain Rumford at the gate. He can tell you what to do.'

Celes made her way back to the gate. As she passed the towns folk she was once more faced with the defeat that had taken the town.

'I promised Marko I'd protect him,' she overheard one of the Militia say. 'And now his dead.'

The pain that evil had birthed here only fouled her burning desire to see it ended. She ran the rest of the way, until she once more stood before Captain Rumford.

'What can I do to help fight the risen dead?' She asked him.

'I admire your courage, but Captain Daltyn and the militia were slaughtered by those things. Only I survived.'

'Don't worry, I will avenge their deaths.'

Celes could see that the Captain was desperate, and it would not take much to sway him.

'Well I have seen you fight… strike at the wretched mothers and their queen. They're the ones vomiting out these… horrors.'

'They're attacking the barricades!' A militiaman upon the wall shouted.

Celes and Rumford turned to watch as the barricade crumbled under the undead assault. The Captain charged in them, filling the gap that had been made by the barricades destruction. Celes let loose her arrows upon them until they had all fallen. She turned her eyes further down the road, and watched one of the undead vomiting out pieces of human remains, that formed into more undead bodies.

'There,' Captain Rumford shouted. 'That's one of the wretched mothers!

Celes arrows quickly found the abomination, destroying the corpse utterly.

'There are more of them in the ruins down the road.' He told her.

Without another world Celes rushed off down the road, to end the evil that had been unleashed upon the town.

The Old Tristram road reeked of the corruption that had taken hold of the land; the very light from the lanterns cast a pale deathly glow upon the area. As she explored she found bodies and undead at every turn, she even saw wretched mothers eat the fallen and vomited out new undead creatures to send against the town.

Celes finished off the wretched mothers in the area quickly. But she still had not come across anything that could be the queen of these monstrosities. She could see what must be Old Tristram further along the road, and she headed for the abandoned town.

As soon as she set foot within the old town she could feel the demonic presence that lingered within. The lord of terror, Diablo himself had walked these streets, and she could still sense his passing, his evil still haunted the very earth.

The undead once more rose against her, but they soon fell to her hatred like all those before them. In the distance she could see what was creating the swarm of undead that now assaulted her. A wretched mother, bigger than the rest, continued to spew out a stream of undead, Celes marked the wretch and nothing it could do would stop her from putting an end to his evil. As she slaughtered the monstrous foes before her, she imbued three of her daggers with her hatred, and unleashed them upon the queen of the wretched mothers, the daggers pierced her flesh, destroying it's body from within, causing it to explode in a shower of gore and blood, the bodies it had eaten spewed across the floor.

With the undead no longer being made by these abominations Celes made her way back to New Tristram.

Celes arrived at the gates, but she could not see the Captain, asking one of the guards, he told her to head back into town, where she would find him close to the Slaughtered Calf Inn.

Celes made her way there. While she approached she saw that the Captain was talking to Leah. Leah was animated, pointing at the Captain, her voice raised. Captain Rumford appeared to be calm, but whatever he said seemed only to frustrate Leah even more. The Captain caught sight of Celes and broke off from Leah to meet her.

'I have killed the wretched mothers.' She told him.

'Thank you for your help. But, could you talk some sense into Leah? She won't give up on the idea of rescuing her uncle.'

'Nor should she,' she told him. Celes knew the pain of losing family, and she would not allow Captain Rumford to destroy Leah's hopes of finding hers. 'I will help her find him.'

'Come,' she called to Leah. 'Let us search for your uncle.'


	4. Chapter 4

_Wake up, its time…_

Celes woke from her dreams. Nightmares many people would call them, her mind replayed the horrors she had witnessed, in all their gory detail. But the Order had taught her that to name something gives it power, and to call her dreams "nightmares" would only allow the horror of them to become more dominant.

She had been eager to help Leah search for her uncle, Deckard Cain. However she knew better then to simply rush off into the wildness of Old Tristram, without first gathering more information about the horrors that had risen within the area, and they had decided to set out tomorrow with the rising sun.

While Celes prepared her gear, a task she performed every morning, and one that was as familiar to her as breathing, she allowed her mind to wonder.

The voice had been absent for a long time, she did not mind of course, but it unnerved her, no good would come of its silence, or its constant whisperings, but at least she was familiar with them.

She quickly dismissed the voice from her thoughts; she needed the focus on the undead. The voice would return, or it would not, it mattered little which.

She once more went through the information Leah had given her about the falling star, and the undead that had arisen since its falling. What most disturbed her was that not only had the undead risen, but other undead creatures seemed to have moved into Tristram, horrors that couldn't possibly come from simply dead bodies.

She finished her preparations, and made her way to the Slaughtered Calf Inn, her mind pondering the idea that there were other forces at work here than simply those of the fallen star.

Leah already prepared breakfast for the two of them, when Celes arrived. As they broke their fast together Leah told Celes their first task.

"We'll need to open the cathedral first.' She told Celes. 'The guards lock it up before they were ambushed. Rumford told me they fought their way back to Adria's hut. The key must still be there."

Celes nodded her agreement. They ate in silence afterward, mentally preparing themselves for what was to come next.

Once they had finished eating, the two of them headed back into Old Tristram, it was there that they would find the road that lead to Adria's hut.

Celes lead the way, as she followed the path that Leah had told her would take them to the hut, she came upon a gate. The lock on the gate seemed impressive, and it would take some time for Celes to break it.

'Here,' Leah said as she moved past Celes. 'Let me open the gate.' Pulling a key out of her pocket, Leah fit it into the lock, and the chains fell away from the door.

How Leah had come upon the key Celes had no idea, but their path was now open to them, and she didn't give it a second thought.

They walked farther along the Old Tristram road; Celes could clearly see the corruption that had taken place within. The trees themselves had been twisted into monstrous shapes; their branches hung low like claws, ready to tear at the cloths of anyone who passed beneath them. Someone or something had even gone to the trouble of strapping skulls upon the trunk of the trees, the dark orbs of the skulls that had once held eyes made Celes feel like she was being watched consistently.

'Adria was my mother,' Leah told Celes. She too had become nerves within this place of evil, and now wished to fill the darkness pressing in on them. 'But I don't know much about her. She died when I was very young. I was raised by Uncle Deckard.'

'What of your father?' Celes asked, eager to keep Leah calm.

'I'm told her was a great warrior who was lost when Tristram fell to the demons.'

Celes was going to ask about the demon attack upon Tristram, but just then they came to a decrepit hut, however strangely enough only time and nature seemed to have had their effect upon it. While a dead body lay within the centre of the room, there were no signs of battle and very little disturbance showed within.

The door had disappeared altogether, and the walls had started to decay and rot away. A table and shelves made up most of the interior. Bottles and booked were spread throughout the small room. A broken down fire, with a pot on it lay outside the house, the only thing that seemed to keep the hut from falling was the stone foundation.

The two of them searched the hut for any signs of the key.

'Look!' Leah gasped. 'A hidden cellar, follow me!'

Celes turned to see that Leah had found a hidden trap down in one of the corners of the room. Leah had flipped the trap door open, and was already descending into the darkness below before Celes could stop her.

Celes quickly followed after Leah, and found herself within a whole room beneath the earth, it was even greater than the hut above.

'Your mother had her secrets.' She told Leah.

'People said she was a witch,' she gasped. 'But I never believed.'

Celes thought it strange that Leah would assume from this that the rumours of her mother were true, but she kept her peace, as the searched the room below.

In the centre of the room a fire still burned, a huge black cauldron sat upon stones, above the fire. Celes could not even begin to fathom who had started the fire.

Without warning the group a few metres away from began to crack, as creatures that were once human began to rise from the earth.

'Captain Daltyn?' Leah gasped.

Celes decided not to find out, and she unleashed a deadly flurry of bolts into the risen death.

With the last of the zombies taken care of, Leah busied herself at a table, which had been pushed to one side of the room. Celes could tell she was desperately trying to keep her mind from wondering upon what they had just faced.

'Here's the key,' she called to Celes. 'And my mother's journal. What I've seen of it is disturbing. I want to know more about her, but that can wait. We need to save Uncle Deckard first!'

Celes took the key from her, and her mother's journal. Why she would want the journal however Celes could not even begin to image, but Leah seemed determined to focus on finding her uncle, without the distraction that her mother's journal held. However Celes could see that Leah was deeply disturbed by what she had uncovered with her mother's journal and Celes would rather have Leah see her uncle dead, if that is his fate.

'I will go.' Celes tells Leah. 'Stay here and learn what you can.'

'Thank you.'

Celes climbed back up into Adria's hut, hoping Leah would be okay. No sooner had she climbed out of the trap door, when the far wall of the hut exploded. Splinted wood filled the hut. Celes dropped down, as bits and pieces flew over her head.

Undead had surrounded the hut, and began pouring through the door way, and the shattered wall. However, even with their dramatic entrance, the undead proved extremely easy to deal with, and Celes once more continued to search for Deckard Cain.

Celes continued to follow the constantly twisting Old Tristram road. There were undead spotted along its path, but all were easily dealt with.

'The infamous Tristram Cathedral.' She looked up at the great building that rose out of the earth. 'I am close to the fallen star now.'

Using the key Leah had given her she opened the Cathedral doors, even within the majestic building undead had found their way inside. Celes put them down once more, as she stepped toward the centre of the room. A huge creator had been made within the room, a pale blue light shone through the hold. Celes leaned over the edge to see what was causing the light, but the ground beneath her gave way, and she fell into the depths below.


End file.
